51吃瓜 of the Day
Weltanschauung
noun
a comprehensive conception or image of the universe and of humanity's relation to it.
More about Weltanschauung
Weltanschauung 鈥渁 comprehensive conception or image of the universe鈥� is a direct borrowing from German, in which the term is a compound of Welt 鈥渨orld鈥� and Anschauung 鈥减别谤肠别辫迟颈辞苍.鈥� Welt is a cognate of the English word world, and both come from a Germanic term, reconstructed as wer-ald-, that likely meant 鈥渁ge of man.鈥� The first half of wer-ald- can be found today in werewolf, literally 鈥渨olf man,鈥� and derives from the same Proto-Indo-European root as Latin vir 鈥渕an,鈥� the source of virile 鈥渕anly鈥� and triumvirate 鈥渁 group of three men.鈥� The second half of wer-ald- is related to old and elder and is distantly related to the first element of the recent 51吃瓜 of the Day alma mater. Weltanschauung was first recorded in English in the 1860s.
how is Weltanschauung used?
Holmes handles the tension successfully not only by applying his scientific principles to a case but also by seeing the case through the perspective of his Weltanschauung. He takes the crime, the criminal, the victim, the motive, the circumstances, and the other characters involved who gain or suffer from the crime, and he puts them all into the cauldron of his world-view. The product of that mixture emerges as his unique brand of justice.
The first immigrant organizations in my town鈥攅ven before there was a church鈥攚ere all Azorean Holy Ghost fraternal societies. That they still thrive is one of the things pointing to the century long love affair that Falmouth has had with the Azores and helps craft the Weltanschauung of the immigrants, their children, and even non-Portuguese in my town. It is a love affair that may not be symmetrical, but it is one that burns brightly from the side of those of us in Falmouth.
Weltanschauung
More about fetching
Fetching 鈥渃harming; captivating,鈥� a participle of the verb fetch, derives from Old English fecc(e)an, a variant of fetian 鈥渢o bring back; to take.鈥� Fetian, in turn, comes from the Proto-Indo-European root ped- 鈥渇oot,鈥� or by extension, 鈥渢o walk,鈥� which is the source of dozens of words related to the lower extremities and how we use them. Because Proto-Indo-European p- and d- often become f- and t- in English and other Germanic languages, the root ped- is recognizable in the words foot, fetter, and (via German) foosball. By way of the Latin derivative 辫脓蝉 (stem ped-) 鈥渇oot,鈥� we have pedal, pedestrian, expedite, and impede, and via Ancient Greek 辫辞煤蝉 (stem pod-) 鈥渇oot,鈥� we have octopus and podium. Fetching as an adjective was first recorded in English in the late 1870s, but the verb fetch, with the sense 鈥渢o captivate,鈥� was first recorded in the early 1600s.
how is fetching used?
Aphids, those sap-sucking foes of gardeners, come in a variety of colours. We usually think of them as green, but pea aphids sometimes wear a fetching red ensemble. That may not strike you as anything special; after all, lots of animals are red. But the aphid鈥檚 colour is unique in a couple of extraordinary ways.
“Audrey bought me this getup at the new mall in Roanoke Rapids. She says it’s the latest in fetching attire for elderly gents. Don’t tell me she’s wrong.” Mabry did his best to match the grin. 鈥淣ot wrong at all.”
fetching
dolmen
noun
a structure usually regarded as a tomb, consisting of two or more large, upright stones set with a space between and capped by a horizontal stone.
More about dolmen
Dolmen 鈥渁 structure consisting of upright stones capped by a horizontal stone鈥� is possibly a borrowing from Cornish, the Celtic language once spoken in Cornwall, a region of southwest England. Beyond this point, the history of dolmen becomes muddled; the word could be a corruption of 迟辞濒尘锚苍, as used in William Borlase鈥檚 1754 collection of essays Antiquities, Historical and Monumental, of the County of Cornwall, in which Borlase implies that the word derives from a local name, m锚n an tol or maen tol 鈥渢he holed stone,鈥� corresponding to Cornish toll 鈥渉ole鈥� and men 鈥渟迟辞苍别.鈥澛� Dolmen was first recorded in English in the late 1850s.
how is dolmen used?
When I get up close to a dolmen, I often have a bit of a sit-down inside and commune with my ancestors, keeping an ear out. It was on a rainy day 鈥� in County Donegal鈥攚hen the Irish air was soft with mist and the green hills were dotted with lambs鈥攖hat the portal tomb in a nearby pasture called to me.
I found the dolmen before I knew it: a curiosity in the center of a field, strewn about with small stones like a gaggle of offspring. It was a knock-kneed little tomb, its two supports leaning together but the flat capstone still firmly in place, level as a tabletop. All three megaliths were fuzzy with golden lichen, and radiated the morning’s sun.
dolmen